Ah, then you haven't been watching HGTV. The bottom line on all their shows is: ANY house can be spiffied up to be attractive to someone!

...what kinds of questions should I ask her? I hardly know where to start...we haven't been in the real estate market since we moved here in 1992!

If I were you, I'd make a list, then put it aside, and start the discussion with a couple of general questions, such as: What's the market like now? What potential buyers might be interested in this property?...and then just listen. Every good Realtor has a basic spiel, and tweaks it for the particular property at hand.

Next day, pull out the list. Most of the questions will have been answered, you'll have other questions, and altogether everything will be in better focus due to the magic of "sleeping on it."

One thing I would say to your Realtor is: "You're my first choice, but the downside is that if things go wrong it might affect our friendship. So if I decide to not run that risk, who else would you recommend?"(Of course, the assumption is that listing your house with the 2nd-highest-performing Realtor won't affect your friendship.) Personally, I keep business and social strictly separate, but I realize there are a lot of people who prefer to do business with friends. Not sure where you stand on that, but even if you're committed to hiring your friend, you should interview 2 other Realtors anyway, just to get different points of view.

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